Characteristics of Marriage
1. Charter: The charter of marriage explains why marriage exists and what the objectives of the marriage are. The charter differs from society to society. This is because the existence of marriage is explained differently in different societies.
- Some consider the institution of marriage as the creation of God, while the others consider it as the result of the ancestor's genius.
- According to one society the objective of marriage is to create an intimate relationship between a man and a woman. Other to procreate children and to perpetuate the family line. Most of the societies say it is to have socially recognized intimate relationship between a man and a woman, which is expected to involve sexual, economic and other forms of interaction. In some societies, it is to make use of a woman’s economic functions.
- Thus the charter of marriage justifies the existence of marriage and indicates the basic ways in which marriage can be viewed, which can be sexual access, parentage, labor, property, widening of the social relationships, etc.
2. Mate Choice: Spouse selection is another characteristic of marriage. According to some cultures,
- the people are free to select their spouses in some not free. (arranged).
- The criteria for selection of the spouse differ according to the nature of who is making the choice.If free, the criteria for spouse selection are the romantic love, sexual desire or to attain the full adult status in the societies. If not free then the size of the bride price or dowry, reputation of spouse’s kin group, levirate (custom of ancient hebrews, etc where a man may be obliged to marry his brothers widow.) or sororate(man marries dead/infertile wife's sister) obligation etc. Age considerations and the considerations of the personal qualities may also influence the spouse selection.
3. Financial Transactions:
- bride price or dowry.
- bride service where the groom goes to work in the bride's place instead of the bride price.
- gift exchanges between 2 groups to be linked bу marriage.
- exchange of women between two groups and the most common type of marriage exchange is bride price, acc to Stephens presenting wedding ring is a rudimentary form of bride price.
4. Ceremonials:
- ritual observances like fasting, drinking, singing, dancing etc.
- In some societies a kind of betrothal ceremony and payment or gift exchange mark theinitiation of marriage. followed by a number of Ceremonials such as wedding ceremonies, magico-religious observances, virginity tests, instructions to the couple, procession etc.
5. Residence: Every society has some rules governing where the newly married couples have to reside.
a. Patrilocal - when the couple live in the residence of the grooms’ parents.
b. Matrilocal - when the couple live in the household of the brides’ family.
c. Ambilocal or Bilocal - when the couple has a choice to reside in either of the parents’ residence.
d. Neolocal - when the couple establish their own residence away from either parents’ house holds.
6. Authority: .
Patriarchy :- authority lies in the male members of the father's side.
Matriarchy:- authority lies in the female members of the family.
avunco-potestality :- authority on the ego lies in the hands of his mother’s brother
7. Stability: In many non-literate societies, the relationship is quite brittle and a person may have several spouses during his life time. This may result in a weak union between the spouses and divorce. Divorce is quite simple in some societies while it is a highly complex institution in other societies. There are some societies where the marriage contract cannot be terminated until the death of either of the spouses. Remarriage rules also differ according to the culture specifics in a society.
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